Planning Your Project

No one plans to fail, but some fail to plan.

Here are a few simple ideas to help plan your project prior to embarking on your funding campaign. Get this right, and you will give yourself the best chance of success, and make the rest of your funding campaign and project flow simply.

If you plan effectively, you will have created most of the content for Posting a Project. On average, our research reveals that 40% to 45% of projects on crowd funding sites succeed – and they are the ones with a well thought out and well told story, a realistic target, great rewards, and a project creator (and team) who are willing to go out and promote the funding campaign.

The first step to Planning Your Project is to start with a blank word document.

The 10 Steps you will need to plan out are…

Logo

Pictures

Project Name

Tag Line

Funding Target

Funding Timeframe

Link to your Youtube Video

Rewards

Project Description

Build your Crowd

Plan out each of the above. Make note of them in your document, and when you have completed all of them to the point where you are happy, you are ready to start Posting a Project.

Here are some pointers to achieving the above 10 Steps….

Rewards

These are the inducements or enticements that get your supporters to pledge. You simply add in your rewards one at a time, and you can add as many as you wish

For each reward, you will need…

Amount ($) – this is the dollar amount you wish for the backer to pledge to receive this reward. Our research reveals the most successful projects have rewards for $10, $25, $50 ($50 being the most commonly pledged amount), $100, $250, and $500 or higher. Reward values for larger amounts, usually called Stretch Rewards, can be useful in engaging corporate sponsors. Make sure there is a difference in price between one reward and another – having more than one reward at any given price is not recommended

Limit – you can limit the amount of each reward you have on offer. If your reward is an email of thanks (for example) then this would be unlimited, so you would simply leave this field blank. If you were offering tickets to a launch party as a reward, you may only have (say) 20 to give away, so you would put “20” in this field

Reward – This is where you put the description or outline of the reward you offer – e.g. “Pledge $50 and receive a personalized widget signed by well renown widget connoisseur Henri Widget” or “Pledge $100 and receive all of the rewards from the previous reward tiers plus a gold charm bracelet”

Collect shipping information on checkout – check this box if this reward needs to be delivered to the backer (obviously you will then need the backer’s delivery address, so if you check this box, it will prompt the backer to give their delivery address for this reward). Leave this box unchecked if you this reward does not need to be physically delivered

No rewards, donations only – check this box if you have no rewards and you wish for your backers to pledge as a donation rather than offering them something in return. This can be useful if your campaign is of a charitable nature, and people will pledge because they wish to see a positive outcome rather than pledging in expectation of receiving a reward

And some general help with rewards…

If you need more ideas for rewards, go to our Rewards page, and we’ll give you some good suggestions, as well as a list of ideas of rewards that our research reveals have worked well in the past;

You should nominate a date by which you can realistically deliver your rewards. This is very important.

x Remove – press this if you are not happy with the reward you have created and it will be deleted

+ Add Reward – once you have filled in all of the details about your initial reward you can click on this and you will see a new group of fields pop up, and you can fill these in to add additional rewards. You can add as many reward tiers as you wish, and you can have more than one reward for any dollar value (i.e. you can have more than one $50 reward, or for any dollar value)

Link to your Youtube Video

Having a video in your campaign more than doubles your chances of reaching your funding target. All you need is a simple 1 – 3 minute video, even one shot on your smartphone, and uploaded to YouTube (click here for tips on how to upload your video to YouTube). Once you have uploaded your video to YouTube, simply cut and paste your video’s URL into the Featured Video URL Remember, the video doesn’t need to be perfect but it must be a true and correct representation of your Project – have fun with it and remember to tell your story. Engage the viewer in the first 40 seconds, and you’ll get the message across

Funding Timeframe

How many days do you want your project to run. It can be anywhere from a minimum of 14 days to a maximum of 120 days (the optimum in most cases is 60 days)

Funding Target

This is your funding target, or how many dollars you wish to raise. Keep in mind, with iPledg being and “all or nothing” platform, you need to reach this target within the funding timeframe for you to receive your funding. Fall short of this target, and you get nothing

Tag Line

This is the heading that sits just below your Project Name

It is your one or two line elevator pitch – make it snappy

Project name

Again, make it catchy.

Always use something that will evoke emotion and get potential backers clicking on your campaign

Gallery

Prepare a library of a few pictures that will help convey your message

Logo

A clear, catchy and sharp picture that will be the face of your project.

Use something that will really draw the attention of potential backers

Project Description

This is where you can make or break your project. We have included a few key considerations below, just to get you thinking, and have included a template in the Campaign Description which you can follow to build your campaign description

Tell us about you, the project, and let the supporters see your project and whom you are;

Sell the sizzle (the benefits) and be enthusiastic.

Tell it like it is – honesty is the only policy, and don’t exaggerate the expectations. Be able to back up any claims about the potential of your project;

Some project questions to consider:

What is the product?

What does it do?

What value does it add?

How does it help the market?

Who is the intended customer?

How will it help them?

Does it make their lives safer, more comfortable, or easier in any way?

Does it add performance to something they have or do?

Does it make their world rosier, or make them seem more attractive in the eyes of their peers?

Does it give their lives some economic benefit?

Does it make what they already have somewhat more durable?

Remember to include logical and emotional reasons;

What development has been done so far? Elaborate on the evolution of your project to date;

Explain a bit about you and your team (if there is more than just you involved) and your background. Don’t forget to mention the origins of your passion for this project, as well as any qualifications that you might have that will assist in the delivery of the project;

Where you are located and the region to which the benefits of your project will extend or effect;

What got you started with this product?

What was your motivation?

What is the project you want to fund?

What is your vision (the problem you might want to solve) and why should people fund it?

How much money do you need?

How are you going to achieve your goal?

What are the activities you are going to undertake to deliver your project?

What are the milestones and dates for these so project supporters can see you achieving progress in the manner you have laid out;

How will it be spent?

What would you do if you raised more than the target? Your goal might be to build a prototype, but extra funds could go to a product launch

How would you like potential supporters to spread the word for you?

Remember, if successful, you get paid at the end of the funding period;

Over what period will the funded project run? (i.e. once you get the money and the project starts, over what period will the actual project run?);

Build familiarity and trust by putting into your Project Outline as many links to other articles about you, your team, and your project;

When you submit your project to us to upload, we may do a tiny bit of typesetting, but not a whole re-write and certainly don’t rely on us. Please check your spelling and layout. You could also send it to professionals in this area like at freelancer.com;

If you are a registered charity you need to state this and its consequences for a Project Supporter.

You can also include links, pictures and all sorts of features here.

It is also essential that you have your PayPal account set up and verified. Without this, you will not be able to create a project on iPledg

10. AND DON’T FORGET – Start to build your database early. The best campaign will fall short of it’s target is you don’t engage your first followers. Without you engaging your first followers, crowd funding will fail to engage a broader crowd who need to the confidence of the first followers (usually your friends, family, and those people known to you). Get some early pledges from people you know and this will cause the crowd to sit up and take note.

Remember, iPledg is not a money tree, but a platform and set of resources on which you can build your funding campaign. It will be up to the calibre of your database, the extent of your network, and your ability to drive your funding campaign through that network that will ultimately see you reach your funding goal;

A database isn’t anything complex or hard to do. It is simply a list of names, addresses (email addresses are fine), phone numbers and other details that you can put together in a simple list or excel spreadsheet;

Build your broader social networks – especially through Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc, and make sure you have your say daily on each one, even while you are in these early planning stages.

Start to tell people right now about what you will be doing on iPledg, letting them know you will soon be directing them to your campaign;

Set up a blog, and start to blog each day;

Engage your networks immediately. It will commit you to your funding campaign, as well as getting the word out early so you can hit the ground running when your funding campaign starts;

Involve as many people as you can in promoting your funding campaign – get them calling people, emailing, tweeting, etc. Build your team early, and get them to involve their networks;

Join groups and associations (both virtual and in person) to which your project will be relevant – e.g LinkedIn has many groups you can join that will link you to relevant potential supporters;

Engage the local media early. They love stories about a local person or cause embarking on a unique funding campaign. Call or email them and let them know what you are doing;

A project, by nature, is finite – it has a beginning, a middle and it does eventually end at the predetermined goal at a predetermined time;

If your project involves sensitive intellectual property (IP), speak to an IP specialist about how you can protect the information whilst you run your funding campaign.

Don’t forget that one of our payment gateways is PayPal, so you will need to set up a Pay Pal account as soon as you can. Don’t delay – as this could take a couple of days to finalise (you can still post your project, but you will need a PayPal account if you want to receive the funds you raise). This account will need to be in the same name as the Project Creator.